Google on Monday announced its Nexus S, the device that will be the showpiece for the Gingerbread/Android 2.3 release. In addition, the Gingerbread software developer kit (SDK) is now available.

The Nexus S was co-developed with Samsung and will be the first out of the gate with Android 2.3, which on the surface looks a lot like Android 2.2 in terms of user interface. In a blog post, Google said it will open source Android 2.3 "in the coming weeks."

Like the first Nexus phone, Google will sell the latest version unlocked and with "a pure Google experience." These efforts are designed to highlight what Android can do before carriers start adding icons, bolting down app stores and carrying out other hijinks.

Generally speaking, the Nexus S looks evolutionary not revolutionary. There's no dual-core and the screen is similar to what's found in a Droid. The main implication for the Nexus S is that Samsung appears to be the Android flag carrier these days.

A few key details about the Nexus S, which will be sold unlocked or under a T-Mobile contract:

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CN...
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